What Does Instagram's Algorithm Change Mean for You?

On March 15 Instagram announced it’s changing the way its feed displays posts. Rather than using chronological order, the company will now use an algorithm to order posts in a manner that “[it] believes you will care about the most.”

In the last week or so everyone noticed the change and freaked out.

Some Instagram users claim that following in the algorithmic footsteps of Twitter and Facebook will spell doom for smaller accounts without many followers. Even users with huge followings said they were worried, urging their fans to “turn on post notifications” in order to prevent their images from getting lost in the shuffle.

A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Mar 28, 2016 at 12:27pm PDT

But is all the fuss warranted?

Instagram has not even rolled out the changes yet, so we don’t know yet if this is going to ruin everyone’s Instagram fun.

We do know this: Even with the algorithm, every post will still be available on your timeline, so if you’re willing to scroll, you won’t miss anything. The only thing that may change is the order, says Instagram.

“On average, people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their Instagram feed,” Kevin Systrom, co-founder and chief executive of Instagram, told the New York Times. “What this is about is making sure that the 30 percent you see is the best 30 percent possible.”

As for the calls to preemptively turn on post notifications for all the accounts you follow, that sounds like a neat solution, but, depending on how many accounts you follow, you might get a lot of notifications.

Despite Instagram’s insistence that the changes are for the better, there are bound to be some users who will still bristle at the thought of an algorithm tampering with their news feed. An easy way to deal with this would be to allow users the option to opt out of the new format in favor of a chronological order. While Instagram claims to be “listening,” how the company chooses to acknowledge such options remains to be seen.